1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a process for manufacturing cocoa powder from cocoa beans. More particularly, the present invention relates to a process for manufacturing cocoa powder mainly from shells of cocoa beans occupying 10% or more of the total weight, which shells have been so far discarded or used only for fertilizer and fodder.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The conventional process for manufacturing cocoa powder is, first of all, to remove shells and embryo buds after cocoa beans are winnowed, roasted and sieved, and then cocoa nibs occupying about 87% of the beans are produced. The nibs are mechanically ground to a cocoa mass, which after bring pressed, sets into a hard solid cocoa cake. The squeezed fat is preserved as a cocoa butter, which occupies 48% to 57% of the nibs. After being mechanically ground, the fat-reduced cocoa cake is pulverized into cocoa powder by means of a pulverizer called a cocoa mill. As commonly known, the cocoa butter is used in the manufacture of chocolate and in other confectionery.
However, this country has no native cocoa beans, but depends upon imports from abroad. For example, the import of cocoa beans in 1977 amounted to 242,970,000 Japanese Yen, from which it is calculated that the unit price was Japanese Yen 1,161 per kilogram. Nevertheless, it was 113.4% of the import of the preceding year.
As is well known, cocoa has become one of the most popular fancy foods in the world owing to its nutritious quality and its unique flavor and taste. On the other hand, the production of cocoa beans depends upon the climatic conditions of the year, and the price is unstable, fluctuating from year to year. In addition, the production of cocoa tends to decline due to many factors. For example, in Ghana, well known as a major producing country occupying 20% to 30% of the world production, its production of cocoa has been declining for the last two years due to the aging of cocoa trees, unstable weathers, lack of insecticides, and non-recruitment of aging experienced workers. After all, the total production in 1977 fell to 320,000 tons (20% decline compared with the preceding year). As a result, in order to overcome such difficulties of high price and absolute lack of supply, there has increased a demand for developing a substitute of cocoa beans and/or an extender.
In line with such worldwide demands, it is reported that Fritzsche, Dodge & Olcott Inc., of New York has succeeded in developing a suitable substitute of cocoa bean after having made chemical and physical researches to a cocoa essence (The Manufacturing Confectionery, April Issue, 1978).
According to its proposal, the substitute is made mainly from a whey of a relatively inexpensive, solid form. After it is specially treated, a natural or synthetic flavoring agent is added thereto. This mixture is added to a natural cocoa by 20% to 50%. When 50% of the natural cocoa is substituted by the mixture, it is reported that the production cost can be reduced by about 25%.
In contrast to such proposals for utilizing artificial substitutes, the present invention is directed to the ultilization of cocoa shells and embryo buds (hereinafter referred to jointly as shells) which have been previously considered almost as wastes. In other words, the present invention has for its object to provide an improved process for manufacturing cocoa powder with the additional use of cocoa shells for raw material.